Mmmm....apple pies. Delicious. Jo, I do like Honeycrisp apples but the SweeTango were calling me this time. And the apple fritters I got at the same time were quite delicious as well. I enjoyed one as a treat that very evening, sitting by my campfire under a bright moon lighting the partially-barren trees.

Congrats to Ryadian on joining the Mod Squad. You've been in Ditto Town a long time!

And it's nice to hear you might be doing NaNo this year. I'm still wavering as far as enthusiasm for my tentative plot line...sometimes I can't wait to get started and other times it's 'meh.'

*comes in lured by the cinnamon-sugar aroma of apple pie*
Is there perchance a slice left for moi?

Mortereve, all! I hope you've been doing well.

Haha, Rya, my reaction was the same.

My week has been going pretty good. Finished my midterms. Now my job is to try and understand the two reactions invovled in photosynthesis. I started understanding it yesterday, so that was a relief... because, during the lecture, I was like... But anywho.

The excitement of NaNo on Narniweb is contagious! I'm glad to see that it has pretty active participation this year. Unfortunately, I will be unable to do it consistently, but I will come by to participate in word wars. I wrote off NaNo, but then I got two ideas thanks to brainstorming (I think that in the NaNo thread, ya'll were discussing Plotters vs. Pantsers... I'm the latter all the way. But I'm working on it!), so I think I'll be writing up some of that idea.

My week has been going pretty good. Finished my midterms. Now my job is to try and understand the two reactions invovled in photosynthesis. I started understanding it yesterday, so that was a relief... because, during the lecture, I was like...

Ahh, I remember days like that. Is biology part of your major, or is this an elective/general/etc.? (What is your major, come to think of it? I'm not sure if I've asked. )

Mortereve, everyone! Despite the fact that nothing eventful happened this week, I've been pretty thoroughly distracted! Part of it was actually doing productive stuff, such as vacuuming pretty much the whole house (now that I'm not in school, my mom gets extra chores out of me ), and part of it was... not productive. Well, it depends on what you call productive; does staring at a screen, trying to get your scene to finish writing itself count?

Wow, I can't believe October is almost over already. Time sure flies! But it's been a beautiful October. Besides that, I look forward to November. In addition to NaNo, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, mainly because I get to see my cousins then. Though, I have some things I need to get done before then, so... maybe I should get to work on that!

That's alright, Rya. My major is currently Chemistry, but I am interested in the chemistry of living things (specifically plants), so the information in Biology, though it is a general course, is relatively important for me to grasp.
What was your major?

Haha, the weekends are my chore days. Except, our vacuum has decided not to work, so I get to do it by hand. Yay.
How is NaNo planning going? I agree; October went by so quickly. During school, I'm learning that it's very easy to focus week-by-week only to realize that months have passed by.

Yeah, NaNo seems to be a very magnetic force on NarniaWeb; it even has a way of drawing back in members who otherwise rarely show their face the rest of the year...

...what are you looking at me for?

*Gorse looks at Cep. Cep looks at Gorse and says, "What are you looking at, squirrel?" Gorse turns his head away and spews a little coffee into a bush behind the bench upon which he sits. "This Pumpkin Pie Spice coffee is absolutely vile," said Gorse.* Yeah. I wont make this one again.

Good to hear of George's warren doing well. Somehow I feel a kind of attachment to that place.

The Warren of the Tool Shed. It'll get a chapter in my book that I will write ... someday.

...what are you looking at me for?

Yeah. See how you are

My major is currently Chemistry ...

*loves Chemistry* Not so much the number crunching of General Chemistry. Organic was much better Photosynthesis. Makes me think of trying to follow the Krebs cycle.

Wow, I can't believe October is almost over already.

Ditto.

... the SweeTango were calling me this time.

Need to find those at the local grocery. Have not seen them recently.

I was a Linguistics major/Spanish minor, so while I did take Biology as a general, it meant significantly less to me than to you. I found it interesting, but not necessarily fully understandable.

I'm going to sound like such a child of the 21st century, but... how do you even do it by hand? I guess my family's the kind that if the vacuum's not working, it doesn't get done until it's fixed. Anyways, NaNo planning has been kind of "meh". On the one hand, I'm greatly benefiting from using an older story, because I'm taking advantage of a lot of the plot points and characters I came up with then. On the other hand, I keep changing my mind about what I'm keeping and what I'm tossing. (Plus, while I have been trying to write this week, a lot of it actually wasn't NaNo; it's another writing project I'm working on. I tend to do this to myself!)

stardf!! It has been far too long. (I'll have to bear this in mind... NaNo brings you back here. ) *Rya sets off to rig every exit from the Town Square so he can't leave... err, did I type that out loud? *

Pumpkin Pie Spice coffee... well, I'm neither a coffee drinker nor a fan of pumpkin, but it sure sounds like an... interesting combination.

Sorry for initially missing your post, Jo! Thank-you for your hearty congratulations!!

I was very excited about my Garden! My garden produced tomatoes until around late September, when I ripped the plants out (something was eating them, and it was getting kind of gross. :S ). But they turned pink on the counter and were almost as delicious as the vine-ripened ones! ^_^

I'm with you on the Autumn-weather machine! I love this weather.

*waves to stardf* How are you doing?

*hands Gorse some nut-flavored coffee, in case he would like that more than the Pumpkin Pie one* Good to see you, cep and Gorse!

*loves Chemistry* Not so much the number crunching of General Chemistry. Organic was much better Photosynthesis. Makes me think of trying to follow the Krebs cycle.

I really enjoy Chemistry, too! Except I think I am the opposite- of what I have studied at this point, I really like General Chemistry, but I'm suspecting Organic Chemistry is going to be... interesting.
Krebs cycle?!!? It's following me everywhere. I think Photosynthesis and respiration is really fascinating, but there are parts of it where I.... well,

Rya, tu es estudiante de Linguistics y Espanol?! Muy fascinante!!! Tengo un clase espanol este semester, y mi clase de ingles tiene unas lecturas sobre linguistics. In case the last sentence was bad... That's so cool that you did Linguistics! I am considering studying English, and I am currently doing some Linguistics in my general composition class (specifically, studying James Paul Gee's discussion of Discourses and sociolinguistics), and I'm thinking about taking a Linguistics class. I was wondering--does Linguistics include etymology, or is it mostly usage of language?

Hahaha, vacuuming by hand=sweeping the carpet with a brush.

I hope you have more productive pre-Nano planning sessions! I have been kind of informally planning some writing. All my ideas come when I can't write them, of course, but I have had some ideas for stories in my mind, so I want to take advantage of the Writing atmosphere that overtakes Narniaweb during this time to get some planning done.

Rya, tu es estudiante de Linguistics y Espanol?! Muy fascinante!!! Tengo un clase espanol este semester, y mi clase de ingles tiene unas lecturas sobre linguistics. In case the last sentence was bad...

No, ¡es una frase muy buena!

That's so cool that you did Linguistics! I am considering studying English, and I am currently doing some Linguistics in my general composition class (specifically, studying James Paul Gee's discussion of Discourses and sociolinguistics), and I'm thinking about taking a Linguistics class. I was wondering--does Linguistics include etymology, or is it mostly usage of language?

Wow, I actually have a lot of friends who learned some Linguistics as part of another degree/class. Before I started college, I kind of assumed that Linguistics was kind of a niche subject. Anyways, Linguistics covers both etymology (or, as my college called it, Historical Linguistics ), and a lot of them focus on usage of language. Sociolinguistics is basically all about usage, whereas the other ones look more at the structure of language. For example, someone looking at syntax doesn't care if a sentence ends with a preposition because you can still understand the sentence; he's more interested in figuring out why a sentence like "Quickly like men dancing" isn't understandable without considerable decoding. (I hope that makes sense. )

Hahaha, vacuuming by hand=sweeping the carpet with a brush.

Aha! I've actually had to do that at work. We have a hand-powered vacuum that we use during the day (since the electric one makes a huge racket that we want to avoid when there are customers ), but when that one's broken (or when we have a customer complain about the noise produced by the hand-powered one... yes, that's happened ), I ended up using a broom and dustpan on the carpet.

I hope you have more productive pre-Nano planning sessions! I have been kind of informally planning some writing. All my ideas come when I can't write them, of course, but I have had some ideas for stories in my mind, so I want to take advantage of the Writing atmosphere that overtakes Narniaweb during this time to get some planning done.

Thanks, and the same to you! (It is wonderful to be surrounded by a bunch of other writers at this time of year, even if it is online! ) Admittedly, I haven't gotten a whole lot planned in the way of story progression lately; mainly, it's been backstory. I'm very bad about doing that. I'm hoping to change that today and tomorrow. (Since NaNo starts in two days!! ) I don't know if you've been the NaNo thread recently, but Ithilwen posted a link to a sort of "Reverse NaNo"/alternate NaNo plan, where you basically front-load most of the words into the first half of the month, so you can write progressively fewer words as the month goes on and you run out of steam, ending with just one word on the last day! I'm going to try that; I know full well that I'm much more eager to write at the start of a month than at the end!

Yeah, this week turned around from "blegh I don't want to get out of bed don't make me" (thank goodness for fast recovery!) to "BEST WEEK EVER".

Niiiice!

*pictures Bella and Rya running around their respective houses with glee*

And because I can't have a post in autumn with out talking apples I made apple crisp a couple of weeks ago and, wow, was it delicious. Warm from the oven with a dollup of ice cream. We have company coming this Sunday, and it was such a hit, I'm preparing a large dish again. Mmmm!

Wow, your first midterms complete, way to go, Bella!

Now my job is to try and understand the two reactions invovled in photosynthesis.

And how is that coming?

invovled in photosynthesis. I started understanding it yesterday, so that was a relief

Uh, shouldn't that be "I started understanding it yesterday, so that was a ... releaf"?

The excitement of NaNo on Narniweb is contagious!

Indeed. And I am not even part of NaNo, but I love the passion with which you all enter November to write, write, write!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday,

Likewise, but we had ours a couple of weeks ago already. It's so non-commercialized and focuses on what really matters. Plus, for Canada, anyway, it's in a most beautiful time of year - the peak of autumn!

stardf!!! Yay, it's great to see you again! And just in time for NaNo, too.

*chuckles at Gorse's reaction to Pumpkin Pie Spice coffee* I'm with ya' there, Gorse, ol' boy.

Need to find those [SweeTangos] at the local grocery. Have not seen them recently.

I wish you well. Hope they arrive in AZ soon. They are sooo tasty.

but... how do you even do it [vacuum] by hand?

Ditto. Maybe by picking up the more noticeable bits of thread, stuff, fluff off the rugs? Curious, Bella, do tell. ....... Aha, she let us in on the secret: "vacuuming by hand=sweeping the carpet with a brush". Well, there you go. Smart!

My garden produced tomatoes until around late September, when I ripped the plants out (something was eating them, and it was getting kind of gross. :S ). But they turned pink on the counter and were almost as delicious as the vine-ripened ones! ^_^

It is sad ripping out the plants, isn't it? We just did this to ours this past weekend. *sniff* The plants were dying and the tomatoes still on the vines were not getting the nutrients. But the big ones are now inside and ripening nicely. I love winter, but I sure miss tomatoes from the garden. The ones in the store taste so wooden.

*reads the continuing conversation between our two newest mods with interest*

So, last week we were away at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario. It is entirely off-season now, so was absolutely quiet and gorgeous there. Lots of hiking right near Lake Huron. And even snow in various parts we visited. Love off-season, anywhere!

Well, wishing each of you a good mid-week, especially as you prepare for NaNo!!!

Hope [Sweet Tango apples] arrive in AZ soon. They are sooo tasty.

Picked up three of the Envy apples; a product of New Zealand. Tastes like a cross between an apple and a pear.

Had a snack sized container of peach yogurt. Peeled back the foil top and it sprayed yogurt all over my blue firefighter work shirt. Gorse laughed so hard he blew acorn tea out his nose. The elevation here is 5,000 feet, thus the containers come a little pressurized.

*loves house cleaning* Gives me such a sense of accomplishment.

Oh, excuse me. (Shortest post I've ever composed in the Square. )

=)) ... Shortest post I've ever composed in the Square.

Noooooooo. Say it aint so.

*Gorse sits upon his favorite bench in Ditto Town Square, carefully sipping his acorn tea. A somehow familiar old desert cottontail rabbit is next to Gorse on the cobblestone pavers, quietly munching through a piece of toast. Gorse looks over to the desert cottontail, with a delicate nod of his head for a mortereve greeting

Cep recognizes a notch in this rabbit's left ear.*

Awww, hi George! And cep too.

So, I just purchased three tickets to the live show of Les Misérables in Toronto for Wed. Dec. 18, matinee performance. This is all Nellie wants for her Christmas gift. And one of our sons is joining us. The other two in the family have no interest.

*goes to nab a honeycrisp*

Making apple crisp again for this Sunday when company's coming over: can't get enough of that wonderful stuff! The fun part is trying to peel an apple so the peel comes off in one entire piece. Kind of like we do with a clementine.

That sounds like an awesome gift, jo! I imagine all of you will quite enjoy it.

Picked up some apples earlier this week and my mother made apple crisp. There's some in my refrigerator right now just waiting...

Sadly, we've entered our cloudiest time of year, and along with the sun setting almost as early as it ever does (5 pm once we go off Daylight Saving Time this weekend), it makes for long dark evenings. (That's nice when it's clear, but we've seen a lot of gray already this week).